The global coronavirus deaths on Saturday crossed the 1.5 lakh mark with the United States registering the highest death toll of over 37,000. 

As of 8 AM Saturday (IST), 154,209 deaths have been recorded with 2,243,512 global cases of COVID-19, John Hopkins University's coronavirus tracker showed. 

The US has recorded 701,475 cases and 37,158 deaths while Italy is second in terms of death toll with 22,745 casualties. Italy is behind the US and Spain in terms of the total number of cases with 172,434 reported COVID-19 infections. 

Spain is second in terms of the number of cases (190,839) and third behind Italy and the US in the number of deaths (20,002). 

In the US, New York state is world-affected with 17,131 deaths. Out of total COVID-19 cases in the US, 60,510 have recovered from the disease. 

Here is the list of top 10 countries in terms of the number of cases: 

US - 701,475

Spain - 190,839

Italy - 172,434

France - 149,130

Germany - 141,397

United Kingdom - 1,09,769

China - 83,783

Iran - 79,494

Turkey - 78,546

Belgium - 36,138

Here are 10 countries with the highest number of deaths:

US - 37,158

Italy - 22,745

Spain - 20,002

France - 18,681

United Kingdom - 14,576

Belgium - 5,163

Iran - 4,958

China - 4,512

Germany - 4,352

Netherlands - 3,459

The European Union has recommended smartphone tracking apps to help countries ease restrictions that have prompted steep economic downturns across the bloc.

Amid the rising scare of coronavirus pandemic, the World Bank Group (WBG) is expected to launch health emergency programs in over 100 countries by the end of April to support the fight against COVID-19, with 64 already in operation, President David Malpass said Friday.

The WBG will work to deploy as much as $160 billion over the next 15 months, tailored to the nature of the health, economic and social shocks that countries are facing during the pandemic, Malpass told a virtual press conference during the Spring Meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the WBG.

Other multilateral development banks (MDBs), such as Asian Development Bank, and Inter-American Development Bank, have committed as a group to roughly $80 billion over this period, bringing the total funding from MDBs to 240 billion dollars, Malpass said.

The World Bank president said he is pleased that Group of Twenty (G20) countries have recently decided to provide a suspension in debt service to bilateral creditors during the crisis, calling it "a powerful fast-acting initiative that can bring real benefits to the poor."

The policy-setting body of the IMF had on Thursday also pledged collective action to mitigate the health and economic impact of COVID-19.